I've seen Houston play a couple of times this year. Scary thing for us is that as good of an offense as Tulsa has, Houston held you guys to 24 points. You guys scored 38 points on OU, 52 points on VT yet only 24 points on Houston. How was Houston able to do it? Did you guys have an off day or is Houston's defense that good? How do we match up with them? Just wanted to get you guys' thoughts on it?
Houston?
- Thread starter SchmidtyNole_rivals
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Correct. The Houston corners were outstanding. They played our very good receivers tight and never let them get open. This allowed the Houston Dline time to get to our QB. The key to playing a hurry up spread it out team like us is having good corners. It allows a defense to keep 6 or 7 in the box to defend the run yet not allow our receivers to get open.
Houston's D was well suited for our scheme. Other teams had better efficacy with scoring against them, but our run game was non-existent that day, we became a very one-dimensional offense that game. I don't think they necessarily out-coached us. Barrister's right, our QB had very little time to make plays, and that'll ruin anybody's day on offense.
Houston started with some decent players to begin with from 2014. They were an 8-5 team that beat Pitt in the Armed Forces Bowl. We on the other hand were 2-10 (SMU, Tulane wins) and won only 5 games in the two previous years. Houston had also won 8 games in 2013. We had to begin a rebuild, they just needed a tweek.
We also lost our best receiver in the middle of the game, for the season.
No floggings. Houston was the better team that game. VT was not the better team in our bowl game. Our defense put their hands in their pockets and kicked the turf. We should've HAD that bowl game!
I should clarify, our defense put their hands in their pockets in the first half and on the first drive of the second half. After that, when the game was out of reach by 24 points, they buckled down.
OK, the Houston D is pretty good, but the key to beating Houston is Gary Ward, Jr. FSU has the athletes to harass Ward all game long if anybody can. I firmly believe that with another QB besides Ward, UH is a 6-6, 7-5 team. Give it your best shot. TU Football: 1st,last,always!
Houston has so much talent in the secondary that they can afford to move one to running back when they aren't facing an air raid offense. That kid had 100+ yards on the ground vs Navy, I believe. Hadn't played O for a couple of years.
They aren't scared of anyone. I'm not even sure this will be close.
They aren't scared of anyone. I'm not even sure this will be close.
I live in Tallahassee. The only way the noles fail to win this game by 40 points is if they party too much and don't take the game serious. Houston has one skill player on offense and a secondary that can cause FSU's revolving QB weakness some problems. Other than that, Dalvin is going to look like Jim Brown, Simpson, and Adrian Peterson rolled into one.
On offense, the scrambling of the Houston QB hurt us, so did the stretch running game when they were using this weird veer look. We didn't have the lateral speed at linebacker. FSU has the speed, length, and quickness at the front four to handle that no problem. On the defense, the secondary shut down our vertical passing game, but they had trouble at times with our third and fourth WRs over the middle, on the slant, and in the slot. FSU doesnt have the depth at wideout that TU does after the first three, but the running game /threat should give FSU some looks in the short passing game.
It's worth noting that not only did we lose our most reliable WR threat, it allowed the defense to isolate their best DB on our remaining deep threat - a player most people say will be a mid round draft choice. Garrett is as good or better than Whitfield and I'll take him over every other WR on the Nole roster. They were able to isolate him with single coverage, even in flood situations. This freed up a safety to cover the run. When you consider our two speed backs were unavailable/ineffective, this led us into some calls and situations that were handled with our short yardage back. He handles the ball exceptionally well and three yards is money, but FCS defensive tackles can outrun him from behind. Langer being our feature back hurt the overall score and Houston had the talent to commit the extra hat to stuffing him. I would think they will try to do the same versus Dalvin.
On offense, the scrambling of the Houston QB hurt us, so did the stretch running game when they were using this weird veer look. We didn't have the lateral speed at linebacker. FSU has the speed, length, and quickness at the front four to handle that no problem. On the defense, the secondary shut down our vertical passing game, but they had trouble at times with our third and fourth WRs over the middle, on the slant, and in the slot. FSU doesnt have the depth at wideout that TU does after the first three, but the running game /threat should give FSU some looks in the short passing game.
It's worth noting that not only did we lose our most reliable WR threat, it allowed the defense to isolate their best DB on our remaining deep threat - a player most people say will be a mid round draft choice. Garrett is as good or better than Whitfield and I'll take him over every other WR on the Nole roster. They were able to isolate him with single coverage, even in flood situations. This freed up a safety to cover the run. When you consider our two speed backs were unavailable/ineffective, this led us into some calls and situations that were handled with our short yardage back. He handles the ball exceptionally well and three yards is money, but FCS defensive tackles can outrun him from behind. Langer being our feature back hurt the overall score and Houston had the talent to commit the extra hat to stuffing him. I would think they will try to do the same versus Dalvin.
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So 2-time 1st team all conference WR Demarcus Ayers is not a player of consequence?
And 2-time 2nd team all conference RB William Farrow (who against Tulsa put up 159 yards and 2 TDs this year and 116 yards and 4 TDs last year) isn't someone to be aware of?
Zach Sanchez (OU) would be a back-up corner at Houston!!!
Sanchez has not looked great this year. I don't know if they changed schemes with him or his technique, but there have been many times he has looked flat out lost against competent QBs/WRs.
As for Houston's DBs...they are very good but they get away with a lot of inside clutching/grabbing off the snap. I think HOU has a chance in this game if they can contain Cook some and turn FSU into a one-dimensional passing team. Golson is not playing so that could disrupt the flow some.
Houston defense was the best we played this year, better than ou. Navy was probably second.
Even with Lucas we would not have won. But we would have been more competitive. May have won a couple of more games during the season too.
Even with Lucas we would not have won. But we would have been more competitive. May have won a couple of more games during the season too.
I'm not going to say Houston's D was the best we played this year. Their DBs were by far the best we played and that made it easier to take away the run. OUs DBs are avg. at best and OU played nickel and dime packages all game making it easier for us to run. Houston's D was the most efficient against us all season because of good game plan utilizing the talent they had.
Florida St by 40 was so wrong and disrespectful to Houston. Huffy did you watch Houston this year? Ward is better than the kid at Clemson in my view. I'm like most Tulsa fans I don't like the cougars either but I was and am very impressed with Houston this year.
Like other posters have commented Houston has a very talented secondary a great QB and nice RBs.
Go TU!!!!
Like other posters have commented Houston has a very talented secondary a great QB and nice RBs.
Go TU!!!!
So Huffy, was it hometown media hype that caused you to discount 12-1 Houston against 10-2 FSU or P-5 bias?
Watson is a much better passer than Ward. Watson has a chance to be an NFL QB because of his size and passing ability. If Ward makes it to the NFL it will be as a slot receiver. And that's not to slight him, that's his skill set. Speed and elusiveness, but his passing ability is Tebowesque.
He does seem small. I heard on the broadcast he's only 185 pounds. Are there any NFL QBs that are that light?